Four Days In Provence

No, not another book by Peter Mayle, but another stay by me (and friend) at the home and gite (pronounced jeeeettt, not git) of my dear cousin, Michael Altman. He has built up a magnificent reputation with a variety of travel organisations with his particular style of accommodating an eclectic mix of mainly British tourists. On this occasion however, we were also joined by Canadian and French visitors.

On arrival, one is presented with two barking dogs, a welcome drink and in my case an excellent 4- course meal. These are normally served every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the non self-catering guests at around 8pm. Luckily, my upgrade to a decent rental car, ensured that my dash from Nice airport (which started shortly after 7pm) to junction 36 on the A8 was covered in good time. The final meandering along the D54, near to Draguignan, only took a few minutes.

Throughout the year, Michael also accepts parties of guests who want to learn Provencal cooking and others who enjoy a corporate-style golfing break. Nearby are jewels of any southern French trip. The gorgeous villages of Bargemon, Callas and Tourtour. For the slightly more motoring adventurous of you, there are magnificent views at the Gorges de Verdon......and for the totally mad you can do something called Bungee jumping. What you do is give a total stranger about 75 quid. He then straps your legs together to a thick cord, then tells you to stand on the edge of the bridge and jump-off.

My lovely companion and I, preferred to lounge on a private beach called "Wyc" ( prounounced Vick) near Les Issambres, a delightful little place between Frejus and Ste. Maxime. And speaking of SM, this is where we took a boat, known in France as a Verte Vedette, to St. Tropez. The trip takes only about 15 minutes but is well-worth the £15.00 return trip for two people. Despite the soaking we took on both legs (or sea-legs) of the journey, this was the highlight of my long week-end away from dull BBC radio news presenters, diversity training; Polish immigrants, corporate spokemen from the bloody water companies justifying their huge profits blah, blah, blah,and so on...........

give yourself a break, just book up at Michael's